Urban Soul Poetry Slam Winner – Buthelezi

Jun 2, 2009 |

I've never really been sure how I actually feel about poetry slams. I had the opportunity to tour the UK in 2006 as part of Hammer & Tongue's Four Continents Poetry Slam Tour and that was fun because it was the same 8 poets, grateful for the opportunity to share our work. I just find that, in some spaces 'the point IS the points and not the poetry'. Anyway, despite these feeble misgivings, I was a judge at the first ever Urban Soul Poetry Slam at Maponya Mall in Soweto and Buthelezi is the man who took the prize. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuynfozMzg8 I will be loading more videos...

read more

Taalam Acey – Love/Erotik

Jun 2, 2009 |

As I crawl out the trenches, find my way through a self-inflicted writer's block, I have started to read, and watch, and listen to poetry again. I have stepped away from my desire to write and allow myself to experience the joy that is the written and spoken word. Someone I have recently come across is Taalam Acey. This is a recent performance of his at UrbanErotika, Bowery Poetry Club in New York. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJOMyP9hE0 I hope it speaks to you and you find relevance between the lines. I know I did.

read more

Poetry Performance At The Blues Room

May 16, 2009 |

Confession. I posted this years ago and, one day (in July 2020), looking at what I wrote, it made absolutely no sense to me. So I have reposted the video, deleted what I had written and added this. The Blues Room in Johannesburg was one of those spaces that became legendary. When I first moved to city, they had a lot of live music performances. At some stage, some people started a poetry night there and, with a new camera that I didn't know how to use, I performed there. This is the result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpSyLaZJJ_k It's a funny thing. I try not to watch these videos much,...

read more